Listen to Timber Timbre's Creep On Creepin' On Now on Exclaim.ca

After two low-key LPs, Toronto songwriter Taylor Kirk made a big splash in 2009 with the release of his third album as Timber Timbre. The eponymous set became a fast favourite among indie music fans, earning a long-list nomination for the Polaris Music Prize and scoring the project a record deal in the process. Now, Kirk and his collaborators -- multi-instrumentalists Mika Posen and Simon Trottier -- are ready to release the follow-up, the ominously titled Creep On Creepin' On.

The album doesn't officially drop until April 5 via Arts & Crafts, but you don't have to wait until then to listen to what the group have cooked up. All ten songs will be streaming this week at Exclaim.ca. Go here to listen.

The title is a clear nod to the spooky sounds that have become Timber Timbre's trademark. Mixing backwoods folk and blues with baroque flourishes and eerie atmospherics, this new LP is sure to appeal to the same crowd who championed its predecessor.

Many of these songs date as far back as two years ago, with the rest of the tracks coming together during a June 2010 residency in Sackville, NB. Kirk and co. self-produced the album, recording with Kees Dekker (Plants and Animals, the Acorn) at the Treatment Room and Mark Lawson (Arcade Fire, the Unicorns) inside of a converted church.

The result of these sessions is an ambitious collection that ranges from lush chamber folk to stark minimalism. As tuneful as it is threatening, songs like "Black Water" and "Bad Ritual" strike a balance between peaceful melodicism and unsettling darkness. Elsewhere, the discordant instrumental "Swamp Magic" sounds as if it was pulled out of a horror movie score, while "Too Old to Die Young" packs a punch with its stomping verses and woozy breakdowns.

In a press release, Kirk explained, "The idea is to make music we love and therefore embrace the risk of sounding like all the music we've ever loved, all at once."

So just how scary is Creep On Creepin' On? Put it this way -- you might want to ensure that all of the lights in your house are turned on before you take a listen here on Exclaim.ca. Be sure to act soon, though, since this stream will only be available until April 4.

Stay tuned for these future full-album streams on Exclaim.ca:

ThursdayNo Devolución April 5 to April 11Panda BearTomboy April 12 to April 18